Over the Green

Earlier this year when SRI Sports parent of Srixon purchased Cleveland Golf industry insiders predicted changes centered on reducing overlap in sales, administration and product between the two former competitors. The change process has begun with Lawrenceville, Ga.-based Srixon moving to Cleveland’s headquarters located in Huntington Beach, Calif. effective Sept. 1. Cleveland takes over responsibility for marketing and distribution for Srixon in addition to its own Cleveland and Never Compromise brands.

The combining of operations means Cleveland, a well known name in the U.S., will have the job of building the Srixon ball business to a competitive place in the market dominated by Acushnet’s Titleist and Pinnacle balls.

And (there’s always an ‘and’) perhaps the best part from Cleveland’s standpoint, having SRI which has a strong position in Asia be able to promote the best part of Cleveland business, wedges.

In case you missed the queston concerning new regulations for grooves during the USGA press conference prior to the start of the US Women’s Open at Interlachen there was an interesting exchange between Executive Director David Fay and one of the reporters.

Q. David, could we get an update on the groove situation? Wasn’t that due for some sort of roll out in January, I think, in theory? Has there been any developments on that front or are we going to have to all change irons?

DAVID FAY: The latest update is there’s no update. We are still on track, we hope. There are a number of components that we have to get everything resolved. A number of — and we’re moving ahead on that. But to give you a timetable at this time, it would be premature.

Q. R & A still a part of the equation in getting them signed up for the same time?

DAVID FAY: Well the R & A, it’s a change in equipment, a change in any rule will not happen unless both sides support it. Fully. The fact that you’ve not heard anything should not be construed as meaning there’s a problem. It’s just that we — anything dealing with equipment, particularly these days, is complex. You deal with the specifications, manufacturing tolerances, I think that one thing I would say that we have never, at least in my experience at the USGA, researched and done the lab testing and the player testing to the degree that we have with this subject of grooves.

‘Complex’ also means they don’t want law suits from club makers. Perhaps the most defining moment for club design in the past 50 years was not the discovery of graphite shafts, titanium for club heads nor urethane for balls but Karsten Solheimm’s square groove law suit settled by the USGA in 1990.

The USGA pretty much abdicated moral authority over the game when they caved in whether they were right or wrong. From this side of the keyboard have been running scared ever since.

Seven years ago Ty Tryon was the youngest to ever earn a PGA Tour card but at age 17 the high schooler couldn’t handle the Tour and now at age 24, is married and playing minitours.

Jeremy Fowler takes a look at the one time ‘next Tiger Woods’ in an Orlando Sentinel story worth a read if only to point out the hazards of trying for the big leagues too soon. Click here for a link to the story.

There are hundreds of products for golfers introduced each year, some great and some not so great but having been around the industry for a long time seldom does something jump out at me as being exceptional.

For this year the exceptional idea product is so simple it defies the question, “why someone didn’t think of it before?”

The Hold-N-One is a wall mounted bracket with a spring loaded clip and holds a golf bag upright. Think of the possibilities. Think of the impact this will have on your hall closet or garage! At $20 it won’t break the bank and definitely fills a need. Check it out at hold-n-one.com or click here to see a couple of images.

It’s been a week now since the Open was concluded and untold millions of words have been written and spoken about Tiger Woods win especially the circumstances centering on the knee injury. My brethen in the media have paid less attention to Rocco Mediate but comments have been virtually 100% positive for both his play and sportsmanship.

Less yet has been said concerning the Phil Mickelson’s play and decision making capacity which placed the home town favorite in an irrelevant position relative to the championship. Replacing a four iron with an fifth wedge is a little odd but given the short game skills Lefty usually exhibits perhaps understandable. What is not within my understanding is why he would drop his driver to use a three wood from the tee for the sake of accuracy and then spend two days still playing from the long grass rather than short grass.

Is this the reason Mickelson isn’t number one? It’s not Tiger beats him…that shouldn’t even be part of the question since Lefty does such a good job of beating himself.

With Woods on the side lines now is the time for Phil to make a run at the two remaining majors and the FedEx Cup. He will never have a better chance to establish himself as one of the all time greats of the game.

More has come to light concerning Tiger Woods left knee problems and in no particular order, in spite of three previous surgeries the ACL has been bothering him off and on for ten years. His decision to play in the Open came after his doctors, three weeks earlier, there would be considerable pain but that there would probably not be further harm the knee.

The ‘double stress fractures’ were caused by Woods’ training regimen prior to the Memorial Invititional in May as he tried to return to competition after the knee surgery following the Masters in April.

At last week’s Open American Express, one of the corporate sponsors annointed by the USGA, showed off a neat idea to enhance the experience of fans in attendance. Amex gave about 1,000 of them a minature TV called Championship Vision, a personal multimedia device powered by WiseDV and myLEADERBOARD, to track championship play.

The minature 4 inch by 6 inch screen carried the NBC TV feed minus commentators comments during commercial breaks plus live views of the tee on one and the green on eighteen. These little TVs are a great idea and far ahead of listening to golf on the radio which generally is considered a last resort for diehard fans.

One caveat for those who were lucky enough to have the opportunity to experience Championship Vision, a $350 charge was made to the AMEX card of those who “forgot” to return them at end of play.

As the golf world recovers from Tiger Woods annoucement he will miss the balance of the season due to knee surgery and the subsequent recovery time some questions have yet to be answered.

The most important is Tiger’s future after he begins playing again indeed will he even be able to play? Will he in fact be 100% or will he play a drastically reduced schedule? Will he revamp his swing to reduce torque and pressure on the left knee and will he begin the process of coverting his swing to that of a middle aged player…atheletic and fit to be sure but still not a youth.

Secondarily is how does Tiger’s absense effect the PGA Tour golf in general. Will Phil Mickelson become dominant or is there someone else who can accept the challenge? What about all the tournament sponsors and charities of the events Tiger will miss? Going forward how about the endorsement money Woods takes in and the PGA Tour’s televison contact negotiations set for next year plus the fall out for the rest of the touring pros and all the businesses that comprise the golf industry?

I’m making no predictions and anyone who does is simply talking to hear the sound of their own voice however I along with the rest of golf will follow Woods and the impact of thie fourth surgery on the same knee with intense interest.

Bobby Grace, one of the most highly regarded putter designers in the world, is no longer part of Greg Norman-owned MacGregor Golf according to a company announcement which give no details of the split other than it was effective immediately.

In a prepared statement Michael Setola, Chief Executive Officer and President said,”We appreciate the work and dedication Bobby gave to the company since it acquired Bobby Grace Putters in 2003 and wish him well in his future endeavors.” The statement went on to say MacGregor will keep all the trademarks and other rights associated with Bobby Grace Putters and the name Bobby Grace.

Just in case it slipped your mind, in addition to being the world’s top player the U.S. Open winner Tiger Woods is also into golf course architecture presumably to have something to fall back on once his playing days are over. The first of his very high profile and very well paid projects is The Tiger Woods Dubai Al Ruwaya course presently in the building process.

The 7,800-yard par-72 layout is the center piece in a golf resort/residential community to be managed by IMG, the company which is Tiger’s agent and business manager. And in case you can’t wait to pack up your sticks for a flight to Dubai and maybe a quick 18 Al Ruwaya has a Sept. 2009 opening date.

Woods also has a project in the U.S., The Cliffs at High Carolina near Ashville, N.C. which is scheduled for play to begin in 2010.